Department Blog

BioAg Sciences

Admit it- you use Excel. That’s because scientific data collection and Excel go together well. If you use Excel for data storage, management, organization, or analysis, these presentations are for you!

All UC Davis scientific researchers are invited to presentations by Dr. Carly Strasser, Project Manager for DCXL (Digital Curation for Excel), UC Curation Center (UC3), California Digital Library to be held next Thursday. Both morning and afternoon presentation times are scheduled for a talk and optional hands-on session.

Benefit to you: you get an expert eye thinking about your data, spotting potential problems, and streamlining your workflow. Dr. Strasser is also knowledgeable about data management plans (now required for all NSF proposals), data archives available for your use, and best practices for data management.

It is rare that scientists are formally taught about good data management practices. Instead we develop our own systems for filing documents, arranging data sheets, handling versions, and documenting analyses that are often unique and unintelligible to others. In this talk, Dr. Strasser will focus on the common mistakes that scientists make, and how to avoid them. She will cover best practices for data management, which will facilitate data sharing, reuse, and archiving in the future.

Devoted time to ask questions about your data, show Dr. Strasser your spreadsheet(s), and get feedback from others about your organization strategy. Chat with her about your data sharing, reuse, and archiving practices, and how you use Excel. Share tips and tricks with other Davis scientists. Attendees are invited to bring their own laptops or, if data is available via Web-accessible spreadsheets, 25 workstations for attendees are available with Internet access.

The UC Davis University Library announces a new pilot program that runs from October 3, 2011 through March 31, 2012. This exciting pilot allows current and emeritus UC Davis science faculty members to request – for free – copies of print-only format journal articles and print-only format book chapters housed in four UC Davis library buildings. Additionally, the existing Harvest Request service that allows any student, staff or faculty member to transfer books and bound journals to another library building for pick-up will be expanded for science faculty to include delivery to and from all buildings.